Pneumatic conveyer



Aug. 5, 1930. -w. A. RUSSELL PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Filed Nov. 16, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

Arm mm x g- 1930. w. L. A. RUSSELL I 1,772,017

PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Filed Nov. 16; 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2'

I byvzurok: Y -MZliam LA-EusseZZ- A rro PA/tt Patented Aug. 5, 1930 I unrran stares. PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM L. A. nussnnn, on sat. tours, MISSOURI, nssrdivon .ro sxinivnnrno'rnnns MANUFACTURING conrran'r, or LQ'UIS, ivrrssouni, A oonron-arron or MISSOURI PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Application filed. November 18, 1927. Serial No. 233,694.

The present invention has relation to im provements in pneumatic conveyors adapted for use in dust-collecting systems, and consists in the novel features of construction more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

The piping arrangement of collecting systems, as heretofore designed, embodies a main leading to a blower or suction fan, and

branch pipes leading from the source of the dust to the main, the sizes of the branches and of the main being graduated or tapered; that is, of a progressively increasing diameter as they approach the blower. Obviously, this is necessary to enable the pipes to carry the increasing load and at the same time to provide a uniform velocity of air column throughout the system. Such being the case, it is readily apparent that if the arrangement of the machines to which the collector branches lead is changed, it be.

comes necessary to change the entire piping arrangement to preserve uniform suction throughout the system. Should there be a plurality of mains leading to a common.

a blower, the balance between these mains must be preserved in order that one may not rob the other. In order to allow for rearrangement of the active branches leading to a main without overloading a part of the main, or without throwing the system out of balance where there is more than one main, 1 have provided a system having a main, the cross sectional area of which throughout its length is variable. This will be better apparent from the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved conveying system; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 8 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. t is a side elevation of a section of the main showing the valve handle and quadrant for holding the valve in any desired position; and Fig. 5 is an outline view of the main shown in Fig. 1 withsomeof the branch pipes cut off and others put into operation, the valves being adjusted to vary the effective passage on through the mains.

Referring to the drawings, 1,1 represent two sections of amainfor a dust-collecting system, the point of juncture of these mains being separated by a partition 2 and the adjacent ends 'otthe main being connected by a conduit-3 to an exhaust fan or blower 4 adapted to be either direct driven or'belt driven through the 'pulley pe The outlet -5 of the blower is connected to aconduit 6 which inaylead to a dust collector (not 00 shown) Aplurality of inlets 7, 7 etc., lead 'to each main 1, said inlets being adaptedto have branch pipes 8, Setc, connected to them by elbows 9, 9. "Any inlets that are not immediately needed are closedby means of caps 10; Itwill he observed that the inlets 7 on opposite sides of the main 1 are arranged in staggered relation and that behind each inlet is a fiapvalve 11 fixed'along its upper edge 'toa shaft 12, the ends of which are 310 mounted in bearing blocks 13, '18 secured on opposite sides of the main 1'. Oneend of shaft 12 extends outwardly beyond the side of the main 1,'said extended end having fixed to it a crank arm 14 whereby'the valve 11 may be moved. Inorder that the valve 11 may be fixed in any desired position from fully closed to fully open, a quadrantlo-is mounted on the side wall of the main, the radius of which correspondswith thefcrank of the arm 1 said quadrant having aseries of equally spaced holes 16 adapted to receive a pin 17 traversing an opening 18 in theend of crank 14. The pin 17 has a spring 19 coiledabout it between the crank arm 14 and a a collar 20 for the purpose of urging said pin into one of the holes 16 in thequadrant. When the pin 17 is in the uppermost hole 16, the flap valve 11 will, of course, be in a vertical position, and the main 1 entirely closed at this point. If it is desired to open the valve to some intermediate point, the pin 17 is pulled out of the opening 16, the'crank moved so as to bring the valve into the new 1 position, and the pin 17 released whereupon 5 it will'enter another opening 16 and hold the valve in its readjusted position.

By referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the supply to the mains 1, 1

length and the valves are accordingly adjusted so as to cut down the effective area of the mains toward their outer ends where the load in the mains is the lightest. This gradual reduction in the effective area of the mains by the adjustment of the valves as shown is equivalent to providing outwardly tapering mains as is the practice at the present time. Should the arrangement of the machines supplying the branch pipes 8 be changed so that it would be necessary tocut ofi some of the branches and put into use others as shown in Fig. 5, the balance between the two mains 1, 1 will be upset by virtue of the greater supply of dust-laden air coming into one main than the other. It then becomes necessary to readjust the valves 11, cutting down the effective passage through the left-hand main 1 which has the smaller number of active branches, and increasing the effective passage through the right-hand main which now has a greater number of active branches. This is done by readjustingthe valves as shown in Fig. 5. Should any subsequent rearrangement of the branches 8 be necessary, the valves 11 may again be adjusted to give the mains 1, 1 at any point an effective cross-sectional area equal to the sum of the areas of the feed branches 8 between that point and the outermost end of the main so that the suction on and a valve in the main adjacent to each lateral branch.

WILLIAM L. A. RUSSELL.

the feed branches may be uniform through- V v out the system.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a pneumatic conveying system, a main, an exhauster connected thereto, a plurality of intakes extending along the length of said main, and means adjacent to each intake for adjusting the efiective cross-sectional area of the main to equal the sum of the areas ofthe intakes outwardly from said first-mentioned intake.

2. In a pneumatic conveying system, a main, an exhauster connected thereto, a plurality of intakes extending along said main adapted for selective use, and means for progressively adjusting the effective area of the main in direct proportion to the effective area of the intakes.

3. In a pneumatic conveying system, a

main, an exhauster connect-ed thereto, a series of intake pipes extending along the length of said main, and a valve in the main adjacent to each intake pipe.

- 4. In a pneumatic conveying system, a main, an exhauster connected thereto, a series of intake pipes extending along the length of said main, a valve in the main adjacent to each intake pipe, and means for adjusting the position of each valve.

5. A pneumatic conveying system comprising a main, an exhauster connected thereto, a series of intake pipes constituting lateral branches of said main, said main being substantially semi-circular in cross-section, 

